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Jan Tschichold

This artwork is done in style of Jan Tschichold's film posters for Phoebe-Palast,
focusing mainly on the asymmetrical composition and geometric shapes, which
were in line with the principals he had held strongly to after how the 1923
Bauhaus exhibition left a strong impression on him. Due to his change of
approach towards typography, as is mentioned in his 1927 book entitled The
New Typography, Tschichold holds the belief that typography is to be approached
in an objective manner and viewed to hold a practical purpose instead of mere
aesthetic value, thus the quote used in this artwork.
As a result, Tschichold condoned the use of sans-serif fonts due to its simple and
clear nature as for typography to play its role, as Tschichold believes, in an
efficient manner. I have chosen to use the font, NHL Edge Anaheim, for the
reason in which it is characterized in a narrow and seemingly blockish form, as is
similar to the font style of Tschicholds film posters for Phoebe-Palast.
This artwork emulates the style of Tschicholds posters for the films Die Frau
ohne Namen (German for The Woman Without a Name) and Laster der
Menschheit (German for The Vice of Humanity), which was prominent for the use
of a single-point perspective to portray the mechanics of a cinematic projection,
as cinemas were fairly new back in those days, while Phoebe-Palast being one of
the first and biggest cinemas back then.
Instead of the portrayal of the films narrative in the original poster, whereby the
train is positioned to seemingly look as if it is moving forward bursting through
the circle, I chose to use the subject of a microscope, evoking a sense of looking
through the circle, which is accompanied by other photos such as a microscopic
photo of pollens, while being closely related to the topic, science, in the quote.
Along with my interpretation of Tschicholds quote, I believe the science behind
typography is a visual prospect, whereby the key to a good typography is its
effectiveness and efficiency in visual communication. As such, the use of a
microscope as the main portrayal of this poster emphasizes further how visual
is an important prospect to be factored in terms of typographical value.

References
1. AYNSLEY, Jeremy (2004). Pioneers of Modern Graphic Design. London:
Miller/Mitchell Beazley.
2. RAIZMAN, David (2003). History of Modern Design: Graphics and Products
Since the Industrial Revolution. [Online] London: Laurence King. Available
from: https://books.google.com.my/books?id=J_NcHIWzt8C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=jan%20tschichold&f=false
[Accessed: 4/9/2016]
3. DE JONG, Cees W. (2008). Jan Tschichold, Master Typographer: His Life,
Work and Legacy. London: Thames & Hudson.
4. THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART (2016). Jan Tschichold: Die Frau ohne
Namen (The Woman Without a Name) (Film poster for the Phoebus-Palast
cinema, Munich) 1927. [Online] Available from:

http://www.moma.org/collection/works/5754?locale=en [Accessed:
4/9/2016]
5. RETINART (2009). Jan Tschichold Typographic Genius. [Online] Available
from: http://retinart.net/artist-profiles/jan-tschichold/ [Accessed:
30/8/2016]
6. DESIGN IS HISTORY (2016). Jan Tschichold. [Online] Available from:
http://www.designishistory.com/1920/jan-tschichold/ [Accessed: 30/8/2016]

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